From the swooping Kites over the Chiltern countryside to the dabbling ducks on the river, I like to capture the grace and fleeting colours of nature. These wonders, both small and large, provide the inspiration to my watercolour paintings and drawings.

As a canoeist on the Thames, I am sometimes privileged to see kingfishers…..or at least a fleeting glimpse. Bright flashes of turquoise and gold are often all you see ….rarely sitting perfectly still. It is this flash of colour and movement that I like to capture.

I have developed the use of maps to show where I canoe on the Thames river and occasionally see kingfishers, but also to show, possibly, what they see, a bird’s eye view, a bigger picture of their landscape.

Once on the water and paddling away from the concrete and brick you enter another, natural realm. You think you know an area, but once you are at water level, you become immersed and see everything from a different, lower perspective. Your usual viewpoint is transformed ….and sometimes you see a flash of gold and turquoise. Although fleeting, it leaves a sense of awe, having seen something very special. I find the wet-on-wet technique of watercolour and the use of gold leaf sheets, combine to capture that flash of colour that is the kingfisher.

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